Walking on StarLit Frames
by Lamecrowned
Summary: *New Cover Art Coming Soon* Warning: slash/pairing(s), some blood/graphic content, NO explicit content. After being kidnapped after the events of Star Fox assault, Wolf O'Donnell develops a mental condition, which he struggles to hide form his friends and coworkers; And Fox returns two years later, also have being kidnapped, with dissociative amnesia, and unable to remember anyone.
1. Chapter 1: I Did Not Miss You

_****UPDATE: To avoid confusion, I combined the prologue and first chapter into the same chapter. And me and my editors went through and fixed(or attempted to) some errors kindly pointed out by a reader. And I would like to point out that if there is an error, feel free to tell me and I will see about fixing it.****_

 _Author's note:_

 _-Yes, another lame author note! To clarify something not directly said in the text. Sensoo is a planet made up for the purposes of this fanfiction, it is located outside the Lylat System. Many years ago, they set up a research facility on it, similar to the ice planet Fichina, except it being so far out made the government regret its decision. Now the Planet is mostly independent, being almost two weeks distant from the Lylat, self-sustaining itself. The majority of the citizens on this planet are too poor to afford a trip back to the Lylat System._

 _-There is no explicit sexual content; however, there may be some action that isn't directly sexual, but is technically OK._

 _However._

 _-There is cussing, morbid content, sexual language, pairings and slash, so read at your own risk!_

 **Prologue**

 **The Curse of the Telepath**

 **Wolf O'Donnell**

 **Pre-Abduction**

He was told that if he took the job, he would be forced to work with some dislikable people he had worked with before, yet he could not recall anyone he disliked to that extent (except maybe Pigma). As he entered the dining hall, he recalled his most recent assignment: hijacking a drug operation in Sargasso. Wolf still wondered how no one had detected him in his disguise, even though he was only in charge of that facility months ago.

Working for Peppy, the new general, just might have been more boring than before his years working under Andross during the Lylat Wars.

"Your new assignment," Peppy told him a few days earlier, "is to take the cruise ship to Zoness, and sniff out the remnants of Oikonny's army. We suspect at least half of the deserters during the first Aparoid attack fled to that planet. Our sources also tell us that some may be aboard the next cruise back."

Apparently searching an entire planet for hundreds of people was easy, not to mention preventing every single one of them from boarding a cruise ship that arrives in only a few days.

I would love to know where he gets his sources, he thought as he spotted two familiar faces.

The fucking lovebirds: Fox McCloud and the girl whose name he still couldn't remember.

The girl had a hand on McCloud's shoulder. They stared at each other, like they had become stone. The way she had her hand on his shoulder annoyed the hell out of him.

No one can ever get a room these days.

Wolf had his way with hiding in plain sight, even in places like this that were almost deserted. He had an odd sensation in his temple, like someone was probing it. He ignored it as he moved closer to the two.

He then realized that the girl didn't have her hand on his shoulder. She had a single finger on him. They weren't staring at each other either. While their heads were turned toward each other, their eyes were off in space, as if they were only physically here, and there minds off in another universe.

Wolf nearly jumped when the girl said, "Yes, we would like another chair please."

Wolf hadn't even noticed a waiter approach them, and somehow the girl did, with him behind her.

"The chair is for you," the girl said after the waiter brought a chair and left.

"Humph," he sat down, in between McCloud and-

She looked at him, something about her gaze stopped him in his thoughts.

"Krystal,"She said, and after a few more moments, "my name."

"Oh," most people didn't baffle him the way she did. It was like she could predict everything-

She looked at him again. "I am a telepath. Attempt to get used to it."

"Is something wrong with him?" Wolf asked after a few moments of silence. "It looks like he's gone to Wonderland."

She smiled. "Oh, he's just in a trance. At the moment he is reliving a moment of his childhood that he hadn't been remembered since he was young. What brings you here? The chances of us being on the same cruise ship are quite slim."

"No particular-" he began to say.

"Hmmmm. You were also hired by Peppy."

"How did you-"

She rolls her eyes as she repeats the word "Telepath".

He was really beginning to hate this woman.

Ten minutes passed, as Wolf stared out the window; Krystal said nothing, continuing to touch McCloud with one finger.

The bitch is inside my head, Wolf thought. She can hear every thought that I have!

If she heard him, she gave no response.

This assignment was going to be more troublesome than he originally thought. He's never worked with anyone who could read him that easily. He wondered how StarFox was able to work with her. On the bright side, however, sniffing out the remnants would (hopefully) be easier.

The silence broke when the waiter came back, telling them that the place would be closing soon, and that they needed to leave.

Krystal took her finger off of McCloud. He blinked several times, like he had just woken up. She handed him a pair of sunglasses, which he eyed as he put them on and stood up, using the table as a crutch.

"For clarification," McCloud said. "He isn't a hallucination?"

"No," she told him. "He's not."

Even with the sunglasses blocking his eyes, Wolf could tell he was looking at him in a strange way. They walked out of the cafeteria, and could now see the mile long deck that took up this side of the ship. This deck was teeming with people, all shoving their way to get to their next destination. Fox was walking in a sluggish manner.

Technically, these were considered cruises, they still had the sunlight pouring in through the glass overhead; and no one needed to worry about falling overboard or pollution resulting from this form of transportation.

"Did we even get our order?" McCloud asked.

Wolf was beginning to wonder about that.

"No, they're still trying to figure out which foods are covered in the pox and which ones aren't."

"What?" Wolf asked.

"They don't know that I know," she said. "After being told our food might not come before closing time, without an explanation, I decided to look into it. I didn't have to move from my seat to hear the conversations from the kitchen where they debated about who touched what. And my God did they talk a lot about that."

Krystal stopped speaking and looked at the glass deck below them.

"I found a few remnants, " she said.

Wolf looked in the same direction she was, but couldn't find them.

"Where?"

"They're not down there," she explained. "I'm making sure they don't know we've become aware of them. I need you to take Fox to the deck below, and stay out of sight. I'll go take care of them."

"Excuse me?" Wolf said, "When did I start taking orders from you?"

"Trust me," Krystal told him. "I'm more prepared to deal with these guys. And I am not capable of dragging Fox around in this loopy state he's in. Besides, you'll get plenty of action in Zoness."

She brought her mouth close to McCloud's ear. "Stay close to the tall wolf guy next to you."

McCloud nodded without looking at her.

They set off in opposite directions, Wolf and Fox going down the escalator. Wolf scanned the deck, looking for a place to hide out. Fox had difficulty keeping up with him.

"Are you okay?" Wolf asked him, certain that Fox was in some sort of drunk and cognitively impaired state.

Fox had to think for a moment.

"Almost," he said slowly, "I have almost no idea what's going on."

"Well," Wolf paused. "We just need to get away from here. That's all you really need to know."

Fox nodded.

Wolf recognized a familiar looking shop he remembered Panther talking about Jasmine Tea, the perfect place to disappear if you wanted some alone time with someone.

Slut, he thought as he pulled out his smartphone.

Panther Caroso

Leon Powalski and Falco Bombardi glared at each other from opposite sides of the table, having previously agreed to follow the principle of "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."

"You know what?" Slippy stood up. "I'm going to go."

"No you're not," Panther said.

Slippy sat back down.

There was something about the way Falco and Leon stared at each other. They looked like they could be a couple.

"Shouldn't we get started?" Panther asked.

The rivals sighed.

"Yes," Leon agreed; "well, where do you suggest we start? Or are you forgetting that's how this argument got started?"

"No," Panther told them, "but let's think about it. There's only a few places in Corneria City that we can check."

"Oh please tell," Falco said.

"Shut up," Leon snapped. "I am the only person here with the right to criticize him."

"Oh really? What were you going to say differently?"

After a brief pause, Leon said, "Panther... continue."

Panther badly wanted to laugh. "Well let's think about it for a second. There's the airports with limited security. It'd be a simple matter to check each of them. Which might give us a lead. While at the same time, we can check the ghetto part. It is almost as big as the richer part of town, but it's easier to search through without raising suspicion."

"There's only four of us," Leon pointed out. "and there are multiple airports and ghetto towns. Are you intending on splitting us up into two small groups?"

Panther's phone rang.

"Excuse me?" Leon said, "you are not answering your phone while we are having this discussion."

"For once in my life, I agree with you."

Leon and Falco exchanged unreadable glances.

"What do you want?" Panther said into his phone. And remind me to thank you later. I needed to get away from that.

"I'm on that cruise to Zoness," Wolf said. "Didn't you say there was a place where you could hook up in the back of that tea shop, and why do they even have a tea shop here?"

Panther gasped. In the years he's worked with Wolf, he's always called Panther vulgar names, all implying that he was a slut.

"Since when do you hook up in public places?" Panther asked him.

Leon stopped what he was in the middle of saying to Falco.

Panther put a finger to his lips as he hit the speaker button.

"I'm not being a whore like you," Wolf growled. "I need a place to hide out."

"Sure you do." Panther smiled. "Question is, with who?"

"This is on speakerphone, isn't it?"

"Nope," Falco said, and Leon threw a fork at him.

"Ugh, I'm not going to ask about him. Anyways, I need that password you use to get in."

"There is no password. You just ask about a private room. You still haven't answered my question."

Leon and Falco began focusing on the call again when they heard his voice.

"I think," Fox McCloud said, "I'm going to pass out."

Panther dropped his phone, while Leon and Falco's heads turned to look at the phone. Slippy either didn't hear that, or he didn't get what it meant.

Fox McCloud

"Let go of my arm please." Fox found the words surprisingly hard to form. This is the last time he decides to go into a trance in a public place.

"You just said you were going to pass out."

Fox didn't know what to say to that. What was left of his mind's crippled processes were focused on all the wrong things. Fox felt like he looked familiar. He couldn't be sure until his mind cleared up... and he stopped staring at him.

Wolf shoved his phone back into his pocket and started pulling Fox forward faster.

They entered some sort of coffee shop, and the wolf asked about getting a private room.

The next thing he remembered was being put in a cramped, dark room. The couch he laid on wasn't comfortable, but his mind was too scattered to care.

Fox jumped when he heard, "So... how are you feeling?"

It was Wolf O'Donnell he heard. Fox opened his eyes to see his figure standing on the other side of this cramped space. Which means the person he was staring at uncontrollably earlier was…

"Shit," he face-palmed himself.

"Um... Are you okay?" Wolf might have looked at him then, but it was too dark for Fox to tell for sure.

"I-" Fox started, "just how long exactly was I staring at you on the way here? Also, we are hiding out or something like that, right?"

Wolf made a noise. "I wasn't aware you were staring at me. And yeah, we're hiding out in here until Krystal does whatever she's doing. Now, why exactly were you-"

"Where are we?" Fox asked, able to think more clearly.

"Some sort of place where couples go to when they want to hook up. This is best hideout we got. Now, why were you-"

"Why are you here?"

"MY TURN!" Wolf practically yelled, before he looked back at the door. Without looking away from the door he said, "So why exactly were you staring at me earlier?"

"You know," Fox said. "I'm still not even sure what's going on. Doesn't help that I don't know why you're even here."

Wolf leaned back against the wall, since it looked like the only piece of furniture in here was the dirty old couch Fox laid on. "Apparently we're working together, got hired under the same job by the general."

"I'm not... here on a job." Fox's head began pounding.

"What? Then what are you here for, to hang out with your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend anymore," Fox snapped. "hasn't been since right after the Apparoid crisis ended. I'm here because I didn't want to deal with Falco or any of the others this Christmas."

Don't ask why.

"So," Wolf said after thinking for a minute, only to have nothing to back it up with.

"You're working for Peppy now?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Wolf said as if it didn't occur to him.

Shit, Fox thought. We need a new topic to talk about.

"Are you okay?"

Fox's breathing sped. "No. My head was still spinning, but it being dark in here helps. My brain has less to process."

Wolf might have nodded. He wasn't sure.

"So," Fox started again. "How have the past few months been for you?"

"Ugh, I have been working for Peppy. Which sucks, but it's the best alternative to becoming a fugitive again, I suppose.'

"I know right," For once it's convenient that the two teams didn't get along. "He keeps trying to get me to work for him. I don't know how to put it to him more bluntly."

Did the expression on Wolf's face change?

"You don't work for him?" He asked.

"No," Fox was surprised he didn't already know. "Our Great Fox was destroyed during the Aparoid Crisis. That thing put me under a several million dollar loan. It'll be a miracle if I can pay it off before the dept passes down to my own children. Plus, StarFox has broken up ages ago."

Processing it took him a few moments, before he could find something to say. "I thought it was your father's loan. Why are you paying it off?"

"Ugh," Fox grunted, turning his head away from him.

He wondered if Wolf was ever going to understand the simple concept of inheritance.

Fox's phone rang as Wolf began to say something.

"Where are you?" Falco asked him over the line.

"Um," Fox looked at his surroundings. "Hiding in a closet. What do you-"

"WHY ARE YOU IN A SEX CLOSET WITH O'DONNELL OF ALL PEOPLE?"

"Since when do you care who I'm screwing?" Fox snapped before changing the point. "wait, you do know that he is a guy, right?"

"What are you two talking about?" Wolf asked.

"I'm not saying you're gay!" Falco told him. "I'm saying he is probably gay."

Fox's mind shut down as a result of what he was hearing. Falco never cared before; and Fox didn't understand why Falco thought he and Wolf were doing the thing- not to mention how he knew he was in a closet with Wolf in the first place.

"Or at least, he's into guys." Falco continued. "I don't know, actually."

"I was about to say-" -how would you know?

"Wait! Leon just told me. He's bi, but he's slightly more attracted to women. Apparently."

Apparently he said it loud enough for Wolf to hear, whom snatched the phone from Fox.

"Ask Leon how he would know this," Wolf said.

"EXCUSE ME," Falco said loudly. "I was talking to someone."

"Yes, and I could hear your entire conversation from across the room. Yeah, how in the fuck would you know anything about my sexuality. And don't say that Leon told you, because he literally knows nothing!"

"YOU LIAR!" Falco yelled.

Was he talking to Leon now, or Wolf?

"Why is he in the same room as Powalski?" Fox asked.

"Good question," Wolf said, "what are you two doing in the same room?"

They didn't get their answer, for the door smashed open and Fox lost consciousness.

"Why can't I be next to you, my dearest friend?

It hurts, it hurts.

Please come save me now.

One day I will see you again.

I will be able to say thanks.

For all the time you've spent with me.

I won't forget you.

Please rescuse me.

But where am I to run now?

I can't touch you now.

This darkness is too deep!

What will I do, but sleep?

One day I will be able to laugh again.

I will remember.

Remember your face.

One I will be able to laugh again.

I won't forget you.

Forget you.

Forget you my friends.

Please rescue me.

Please rescue me.

Please rescue me.

It hurts.

Help me."

\- HetaOni Soundtrack, "Yggdrasil" with lyrics written by Charissachu/Sapph.

* * *

"I said I loved you as I left you.

Regrets still haunt your saddened head.

But I promised you, I will see you again."

\- The Black Veil Brides, "The Mortician's Daughter".

 **Chapter 1: I Did Not Miss You**

 **Zoness**

 **Post-Abduction**

 _ **Krystal**_

Crowds gathered around the empty space marked off with stripes placed on the ground. Krystal, Leon, and Panther were stationed. in different positions, Krystal being the closest to the ship while Leon and Panther held further back.

Almost a year and a half ago, she joined StarWolf, not that it made any difference. She still worked for the same person. That was one of the few perks of working for this team.

"The ship is arriving soon," Krystal told Leon over their headset channel. After yawning, she adds. "I'm glad Wolf decided not to join us this time."

"You said it," Panther agreed. She felt Leon nodding, but he didn't want to say anything out loud. No one needed a telepath to figure that out.

According to Peppy, the person they were hired to escort to Corneria was on this ship from Sensoo. Krystal has been to Sensoo only a few times. It's mainly a desert planet, with wild animals bigger than the dinosaurs on Sauria. It wasn't a good planet to live on, according to people who originated from there.

"Aren't there kids on this flight?" Panther asked.

"Yes," Leon said, "we've only heard the news dozens of times. The real question should be how this relates to the terrorism that has been occurring lately. Has Peppy told you anything, Krystal?"

Panther was about to say something when Krystal cut him short.

"He hasn't told me anything," she told him. "despite me being his favorite. I imagine that there is some technology in Sensoo that we still don't have. According to some of Peppy's sources, they are quite advanced in biological warfare and their medical treatment, despite it being the poorest planet that we know of. And I also read that their arwing research has skyrocketed. They didn't even have arwings on that planet fifty years ago."

For the next several minutes, Krystal and Leon discussed different theories, merely to pass the time, as Panther attempted to keep up with their conversation. At least he was trying.

Some time later, the ship had actually appeared in the sky, far in the distance. It came in dangerously fast compared to most cargo ships Krystal has seen.

"Something's wrong," she decided.

"We noticed, " Leon told her, "when the ships lands, you investigate that cargo ship while we make our way there through the crowd."

"Got it," she minded it much less when orders were given by him, despite him being the more cocky member of the team. When he gave an order, he had a reason.

Less than five minutes later, the ship had already landed on the dock. The airlock leading inside opened without delay, letting a gust of cold air rush out.

The news cameras began flashing as the children came pouring out. That wasn't put of the ordinary.

Except they were covered in blood.

Alongside the kids, three older looking people ran out. As the three worked to shut the airlock from the outside, Krystal noticed who two of them were.

"Panther," Krystal increased her pace towards the ship, "you didn't tell me Spade was going to be on that flight."

"WHAT?" Panther yelled. "What the fuck was she doing on Sensoo?"

She stopped listening as she focused on them.

Spade and a teenage fox covered their eyes to block out the light. Fox didn't seem to notice the mind the sudden change in light, wearing sunglasses.

Krystal ignored the military telling her to back away as she approached Fox.

Something did not add up.

 _ **Leon Powalski**_

The scene standing before him had taken him aback. Military personnel interrogated the children about the events that took place on the ship. He saw Fox leaning back against the side of the ship. Krystal seemed to not be happy to see him, despite the circumstances.

"You could just tell her," a young vulpine next to Fox said. "then again, maybe you shouldn't."

The boy's body was riddled with scars in the same areas where his fur had stopped growing; Fox seemed to appear the same, except his left ear had been replaced with a bionic ear. Something didn't seem right about the sunglasses, the way they seemed to be glued to his face. The red scarf that covered the lower part of his face reminded Leon of James McCloud.

Fox turned his head toward the boy, as if the pubescent child was worth more than his attention.

"Oh yeah," Krystal said. "what are you doing here, Spade?"

The young panther seemed even more cheerful than usual as she answered.

"Peppy hired me to keep an eye on the escorts," she said, looking at the group of kids talking to the soldiers, "and to make sure the documents get delivered to him safely."

"What do you know," the vulpine-boy said, "almost all the escorts have shown up."

"Who's missing?" Panther said as he walked up beside Leon.

One of the things that set the whole group off was the fact general Peppy didn't bother describing who the escorts were. Instead he told them, "They'll know you."

The boy had to think for a moment.

"Lombardi," the boy said. "some sort of blue bird?"

"You're shitting me," Leon mutters.

"What's your name again Miss?" Fox asked, after not being yelled at for an entire thirty seconds.

"Shut the fuck up," Krystal redirected her attention toward him.

Panther and Spade flinched at Krystal's new vocabulary.

Fox didn't seem fazed.

"Kusu, here. I'm done. He said as he handed the boy an envelope before attempting to walk off, only to be sent back by a soldier, with instructions to wait until investigation going underway was finished.

"What happened?" Leon asked.

"More of Oikonney's Rebels," Spade said, "they weren't happy when they discovered that Midori was stealing their documents. Midori being him." She pointed at Fox.

After several months of searching, Peppy decided to send scouts to Sensoo, thinking that maybe they should at least check the planet once. They surprisingly hit a jackpot, discovering what appeared to be Oikonny's former base of operation.

Spade continued. "They had a few dozen of their men on the ship, disguised as workers. Whoever sent them decided they also needed to kill everyone else aboard."

That made little sense to Leon. What threat did the kids on this flight present, or are these documents that valuable that they would take no risk?

"At least half of them died," the boy said before gesturing to himself, "I'm Kusuri Ishi. Son of John Ishi, the head of the biological warfare research department of Sensoo." He points at Fox. "Midori Ishi. Apparently you already know him as Fox, but we're not going to bother explaining why he goes by my family's name."

Krystal's eyebrows raised, the way she does someone crosses her line.

"Why bother saying that?" Krystal asked. "And why are you, a little brat, telling me this instead this ball-less man?

Kusuri looked at Fox. "Should I say anything?" Her insult did not faze him.

Fox shrugged. "I don't really care what you tell them."

"Okay," Kusuri stopped slouching against the wall and stood up, which wasn't much of a difference, since he still several inches below her.

"Ma'am, what would you do if someone you cared about had no idea what was going on, due to some sort of mental state? And your "friend" was only getting more and more confused because he or she had people asking questions he or she could not answer? Would you just sit back and watch? Do you expect me to-"

The air-lock into the ship opened as soldiers walked out, guns aimed at the heads of people they brought out from inside.

Kusuri smiled. "I wonder what they did to incriminate themselves before they even exited the ship. You should see it, Midori. They already have guns pointed at their heads."

"Hmmm?" Fox looked at the boy.

"I see rapist number one," Kusuri said. "Rapist number one, rapist number two. Oh, even John!"

Fox's mouth spread into a wide grin.

Kusuri seemed to be in agreement. "Maybe if we don't move he won't see us."

Leon looked at the group of men with guns pointed to their heads. A vulpine stood out, not because he was a vulpine, but he wore a labcoat stained in blood. His head twitched around as if he was looking for something. Eventually, his head turned their way.

"Kusu," the man called. "Kusuri! Please help me!"

"What shit is he on?"

Of course he would show up to ask that question.

"You don't want to know what he's on," Kusuri told Falco.

"Okay?" Falco remarked before gasping. "Fox?!"

"Ask him anything," Kususi said. "and I will castrate you. Don't think I won't."

"He will," Fox said, "he's a bit screwed up."

"Very," Spade agreed.

"Wait, why are you here?" Falco asked her.

"I'm a teenage girl, and I needed money," she made a two in her hands; "rule number two of dealing with teenage girls, they always need money."

Panther didn't like hearing that. "Just because you-"

"Why are _you_ here?" I asked Falco. "You just love getting in the way, don't you?"

"Now you sound like me," Kusuri laughed at Spade. "minus the teenage girl part."

"Shh," Fox said.

Panther was about to say something when Kusuri put a finger to his lips and looked at Fox.

"I hear him," Fox said. "he followed us here."

"You're playing the pronoun game," Kusuri told him. "who?"

"Masanori," Fox said. "and the fucking pig."

"Where?" Kusuri stood up even straighter. "And why? Since when do they do anything together?"

"Who?" Krystal asked.

"A few people from Sensoo," Fox said, "one is a greedy swine who wants our organs, Masanori-"

"What the hell do they want with your organs?" Falco asked.

But Fox didn't stop speaking. "-is Kusuri's grandfather."

Leon found it odd that Fox said Masanori's name aloud, but not the swine's.

Other than Pigma, who was dead now, there weren't any other notorious pigs that he knew of.

"Why would they be here?" Krystal inquired. "All the way from Sensoo? That's over ten days of travel."

That statement left Leon to wonder how the three survived on the ship for so long.

"Why did we come all the way from Sensoo?" Fox asked. "To hear people like you ask us completely random questions that we obviously don't have the answers to."

"My questions aren't random. I have legitimate reasons to be asking you these things."

"Really?" The entire past five minutes, Fox hadn't even looked at her once. "Mind telling me me these reasons."

"I shouldn't have to!"

"Um," Panther said. "Krystal, I think-"

"Do you know anything?" Krystal snapped. "Were you ever friends with him? Did you spend over a year wondering what the fuck happened to him? "

Unknown to her as she yelled at Panther, a soldier had come up telling Fox that the general sent them a message, and that he and Kusuri were free to go. She didn't notice they were gone until Spade spoke up.

"I'll take care of it," Spade said as she walked off after them.

"Take care of what?" Krystal looked away from Panther.

Falco spoke up. "The fact you were being..."

"That's not the best thing to be saying to her," Leon told him.

Falco pivoted on his right heel to look at him. "Well, I worked with her for over a year. I think I know how to deal with her."

"So have I," Leon countered. "the fact we've worked with her for almost equal amounts of time means I automatically know more."

"Being a what?" Krystal asked. "if you know me so well, Leon, you can certainly say it out loud what Falco meant."

"You're being a bitch," Panther said flatly.

Krystal turned to him, as surprised as the rest of them.

"This is the worst we have ever seen you. When I imagined you seeing him again, I thought you would be happy that he was alive. But no, you were busy interrogating him. I don't know about you, but Fox didn't look happy to see any of us. And if you paid any attention, he wasn't even looking at you or Falco in the eyes. Not once. He didn't even sound surprised when you started interrogating him."

"So you're saying," Falco said. "that he left for a reason?"

While that was possible, Leon couldn't help but find a way to disagree with him.

Leon glared at him. "No, he's simply saying that something was obviously wrong, and she was too busy yelling at him to realize that. And now he's run off with Spade following him because he got tired of her."

The realization hit Krystal hard.

"Fine," She sighed. "I'll go after him.

 **Corneria**

 _ **Wolf O'Donnell**_

 _ **I should have joined them when they left for Zoness**_ , Wolf thought as meeting continued. Anything was better than sitting through another meeting about terrorism in Corneria City.

In the past two years, Corneria's economy not only recovered, but grew exponentially higher than it was before the Apparoid attack.

Although, about eight or nine months after the recession ended, a terrorist group, presumably the remnants of Andrew Oikonny's army, began laying attacks on Zoness; immediately afterwards catching a ride to Corneria and confusing the military.

The army's small size has made it difficult for them to track, and they had an uncanny ability to be able to move around anonymously once they reached Corneria.

After they started attacking Star Wolf, and the remaining members of Star Fox's homes at random, everyone was forced to move into government owned quadrants, which general Peppy claimed were the safest places to be. It was easy for Peppy to take authorization of Krystal, Falco, Slippy, Slippy's girlfriend Amanda, and Star Wolf's arwings and force them to stay on Corneria. They were only allowed to leave for mercenary work; most of which involving these Oikonny soldiers.

If Wolf had any resentment towards general Peppy before, it had skyrocketed after his forced move into the quadrants.

 _ **Can they just hurry up and win?**_ Wolf thought. _**Which is worse- their torture, or this fucking meeting?**_

 **Zoness**

 _ **Krystal**_

She had almost caught up to the three when she heard a man start speaking.

"Since when do you wear sunglasses, Ishi?"

Krystal made it out of the crowd to see some sort of cat, also with numerous scars, in Fox's face. With every word he poked Fox in the chest. Fox stood there, taking the man's taunts.

"Hiding something?" The man yanked his sunglasses off, pulling out fur with it. Krystal could now see that Fox's left eye socket was empty.

 _ **Is this why he didn't look at any of us? Wait, he wouldn't be able to walk off on his own if he was blind.**_

Spade wasn't okay with this man's treatment. "What do you think you're-"

"It's fine," Fox told her. "I got this."

"The man is literally touching you!"

He smiled in her direction. "I'll touch him back, don't worry."

Krystal struggled not to use her telepathy on the man.

"You wanna go?" The man yelled, throwing a punch before Fox could react.

The man's fist smashed into his nose, knocking Fox back. Now that Fox's head had turned, she could see that his right eye was still there, but something didn't seem right.

The next swing didn't hit, and Fox managed to land a punch on his jaw. Fox still didn't look at him.

Was Fox suddenly a telepath? It didn't make much sense, but the only logical explanation she could find.

 _ **Is this why he was so weak all the time back then,**_ she wondered. _**His mind was altering its structure to accommodate this?**_

If so, then this may all be her fault.

As the man aimed another strike at him, smacking Fox in the chin, she noticed something else.

Fox swung with his left arm.

During their time on Sauria, and every mission afterwards, Fox had been using his right hand; and when Krystal looked at him more closely, she saw that his entire right arm looked skinnier than she remembered, like dead weight hanging off his shoulder.

Fox somehow ended up on the ground, the man now able to land punch after punch on him.

The man had left three blows on Fox's right eye as Krystal decided that was enough.

"I got this Spade!" Fox said as Krystal approached him, mistaking her for Spade.

 _ **So he definitely is**_ not _**a telepath.**_

The man had his knee on Fox's chest, pinning him as he punched right on top of his right ear.

Krystal was in the middle of saying that she wasn't Spade when the man brought out a rushed over as the blade had already swung down.

 _Too late._

In a flash, roles had reversed. Fox now had the man on his stomach, using his good arm and legs skillfully to pin him down. The knife rested in between Fox's teeth.

Fox let the weapon fall to the ground.

"Word of advice," Fox brought his mouth close to his ear, "don't fist fight with someone who has three robotic limbs. Unless of course, you're _trying_ to get a concussion or some sort of internal injury. I went easy on you this once. But next I won't hesitate to hit you with full force in your nose and I can guarantee you will not walk away from that."

Fox stood up and began to walk away, but the man reached for his knife again.

The blade flew out of his hand as Spade grabbed his wrist and spun him around onto the ground. She pulled his arm back far enough for it to be near breaking.

"He may go easy on you," she spat, "but you don't want to cross me. I am Spade Caroso."

She stood up, eyes deadlocked with the man, and rejoined Fox.

He didn't get back up until she was several feet from him.

Spade put a hand on Fox's shoulder and smiled. "You have to look at them in the eye."

To Krystal's surprise, Fox laughed at that offensive comment.

"But seriously," Spade said. "you might want to replace that one soon."

"What happened to your eye?" Krystal asked before regretting it, "uh never mind about that. I just wanted to apologize for earlier."

"For what?" Fox asked, "oh yeah! Wait, no... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Shouldn't we be going?" Spade interjected, "it's going to take us a while to reach Corneria. You'll have plenty of time to talk then. Three whole days actually."

Krystal wasn't sure whether she liked it or not.


	2. Chapter 2

_Who knew fanfiction could be educational. I'm still surprised, even after reading this edit over ten times._

 _With dissociative amnesia, you don't need to worry about knowing that, since it is explained to the characters in a future chapter, and possibly explained in further detail in multiple chapters. However, you should read what I wrote about human echolocation, since the concepts used in this fiction are based off of it. (One of my editors said "Play Lurking and you'll understand echolocation in a weird manner of sorts." For you readers who want a more tactile kind of experience.)_

 _I have done extensive research on echolocation, which I have combined with experience in dealing with it to apply it to this fiction accurately._

 _I'm going to assume you know what echolocation is. Dolphins and bats have it._

 _And obviously, most humans do not have it. However, there are humans who indeed possess this ability. I'm not going to write an entire essay about the people who have been documented to have this ability, but I'm going to try and just educate you a bit before this chapter starts._

 _There is a blog by a man who has done numerous experiments, trying to see if anyone can echolocate. He has a blog online where he wrote about his experiences in practicing echolocation. From doing his experiments, he now has the ability to see interpret sound good enough to be able to "see" the space around him._

 _I even tested out the exercises he listed in his blog (some of which I had to modify, which may have altered the results), which were designed to improve human echolocation. I did get interesting results, anytime I was near a flat surfaces such as a desk or wall, I could literally feel the sound coming off of it from the sound waves of EVERY. TIME. I SPOKE. It was further proven when I wore a baseball cap to school one day, and I could feel the sound bouncing off the hat literally every time I talked. Eventually it got so annoying that I had to take the hat off!_

 _Now, I didn't practice long enough(only like a month, and I wasn't practicing more than 5 minutes a day) to actually navigate through echolocation the way the guy who wrote the blog could, but far enough to know these exercises were legitimate. Due to personal reasons, I had to stop my practice of echolocation. But I am still proud to say I able to prove to to myself how practical human echolocation actually is, and that if I ever end up blind, I know how to practice echolocation._

 _The conclusion being that most humans have the ability to learn to echolocate. It simply depends on the circumstances.(For the blind it tends to take only a few days, since they never use actual vision; but for the sighted, it can take longer, depending on how often and how challenged the exercises are) (Sighted or not, it depends on the person himself on how long it takes.)_

 _I took the information I learned through reading and practice, and applied it to this story. I am happy to say that MOST of the echolocation you see in this story is how it works in real life; however, this is a science fiction, so not all of it is going to be accurate!_

 _If you wish to learn more look up dot com to find out more about the ways of practicing it. And if you want to simply learn about how it works just google it, keep in mind you should exercise discretion in what articles you choose to read. (I mean, the internet is full of lies, and dangerous people.)_

 _Also, thx to this artist for letting me commission him for the sketch i am currently using for the cover of this fiction- DOT com/_

 _Chapter 2(i forgot what to title this chapter O.O)_

 _ **Leon Powalski**_

The moment Spade ran off after the two, Panther began thinking of the nasty things he was going to say to General Peppy when he returned to Corneria.

"I just might murder him," Panther said to Leon, who leaned back against the cargo ship, thinking similar thoughts.

Falco began to tell him to shut up before Leon cut him off.

"Shush, you," Leon told him, having his own reasons to be angry at Peppy too. "Why did Peppy even send you here? I think he's asking for a death wish."

On normal occasions, Leon did not mind working for the General; but on days like this, he felt different. Over the past two years that they had been working for General Peppy, everyone had eventually gotten used to Falco being randomly assigned to work with them. Even Wolf of all people had adjusted to it; in fact, he adjusted to Falco even quicker than Krystal. Leon was still the only one who had not adjusted to this feathered fellow.

Panther clasped Leon on the shoulder, both of them glared at Falco.

Falco fake coughed. "I know two people who would disagree with that, one of which being your girlfriend. That makes it three against two."

With that statement, Panther's temperament went out the window as he walked up to Falco, having to lean forward in order to be at the same (eye level, since Panther was taller, "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND."

Falco looked up, as if Panther was nothing but a pretty little cloud in the sky. "Dude, you live together. And you're raising a kid. No one can even tell the difference between now and when you actually were 'dating'."

After Fox and Wolf had been kidnapped by remnants of Andrew's army, Panther and Krystal started seeing each other. Krystal didn't have to worry about Fox finding out, and Panther didn't need to worry about the group leader. Strangely enough, after they had rescued Wolf, he didn't even seem to notice the difference when he found out they were dating. What seemed even more odd was the fact that he didn't seem to notice that Star Wolf had an extra member; not to mention Panther's new kid.

The whole adoption of Spade shortly before Wolf's location was discovered.

No one said the exact details about what happened when they saw him the weekend after Spade stayed at Wolf's place for the first time; but afterwards Wolf said, "I am never having children. Ever."

Wolf was never the same after that weekend. After meeting Spade, Wolf and the general got along even less, despite the fact that Star Wolf had been working with him for almost a year by that time. Remembering this gave Leon a good point to bring up.

"Wolf hates the general," he said, "That makes it three of us against three of you."

"Four actually," Falco raised all of the fingers in his hand except for his right. "Fox makes four. You kill Peppy and a family feud might start!."

Panther turned his head. "The fuck did you just say?"

 _ **If he just said that we are a family...**_ Leon thought.

"She calls me her uncle," Falco said. "She calls both Leon and Wolf her uncles, and I could have sworn that she called Peppy 'gramps', last time I was in the same room as them."

Falco was not done. "Let's not forget the times when you've had Spade stay at my place?"

"It was only once," Panther growled.

"Twice actually," Leon said, immediately regretting supporting Falco's argument.

"Aaaand, she comes over at least three times a week to 'hangout' with me. And somehow I end up invited to your place, or someone else in Star Wolf's place, at least four times a week."

"First off," Panther said. "I can't stop her from inviting you to our place. Second, it's never me inviting you to my place. It's always Krystal, Spade, Wolf or that fucking toad that-"

He stopped and scanned around him, then checked the radar on his wrist. He sighed when it read that Krystal wasn't in the vicinity.

Falco made a coughing sound. "Girlfriend! Oh yeah, remember those two times, as Leon just said, that you asked me directly if I could have her stay at my place?"

"I was desperate."

Falco held up two fingers. "Twice. Twice you've been that desperate?"

"He's always that desperate!" Krystal called through the crowd then.

She, and the other three, emerged from the crowd. Fox held his nose shut, all the fur on the underside of his face dry and caked with blood. She kicked Panther in the leg before saying, "I still heard that."

"All men are desperate actually," Spade said; As if a girl her age knew anything about men.

"Um," Fox said. "Recall two minutes ago. Did I look desperate as I kicked that guy's ass?"

Kusuri shook his head. "You did as you were holding that tissue to your face. Let's not forget the girl who had to step in. Plus you live with me. That alone shows your desperation." He turned toward the direction from which they just came. "For example."

He retrieved a blaster from [his boot and fired.

Everyone in the group, except for Fox, drew their weapons as screams echoed in the crowd. People began moving around frantically.

Behind Fox lay a dog, machine gun gripped in his dead hands. Kusuri bent down to retrieve the dead man's gun. "Without me, I don't know what you'd do."

"Ship's this way," Leon said.

Everyone in the crowd ran in different directions, making it difficult for them to pass through. People pushed and shoved , trying to get out of the square.

Kusuri and Spade each walked by Fox's side.

 _ **I will have to ask about it later. As long as I'm nicer about it than Krystal, he shouldn't mind me asking. Something is definitely wrong if he's letting children protect him.**_

They heard shouts from the rear, shortly before the ringing of gunshots.

"Move!" Someone shouted behind them.

"Convenient," Spade muttered. "We're being led into a dead end."

Due to the fact that they were currently in a wide open space, Leon didn't see how she could know this soon what their plans were. The reason didn't occur to him until it was too late.

"How did you know?" He asked, before realizing that she used to live here, "Wait... never mind."

Falco spoke up, "Let's just take 'em!. What are there, six of us?"

"And how many people do you want to die in the crossfire?" Leon asked. "Isn't that a bit hypocritical of you?"

"Hey! At least I'm the one shooting ideas around."

"Speaking of shooting," Kusuri said as he raised his gun.

"Oh shit-" Panther started.

The same moment Kusuri fired his gun, Fox yelled at the crowd to move; they followed the same method as their pursuers. It seemed to work, since the crowd became noticeably easier to navigate through.

Spade, seeming to be ahead of the game asked,"Krystal, can you look ahead? We're getting close-"

Krystal cursed as she grabbed the backs of the two vulpine's shirts, and pulled them to the ground. Spade dove for the ground to join them as shots rang over them. Panther and Leon began shooting at the men ahead of them.

They had nearly reached the end of the crowd, only a few groups of civilians stood between them and what appeared to be dozens of soldiers. Behind them was an alleyway: the "dead end" Spade had mentioned. If these men weren't dealt with soon, Star Wolf would be taken out in seconds.

"Ready to tango?" Krystal winked an eyebrow as she stood up.

Panther dropped to his knees and cupped his hands together.

Leon moved closer to Spade as he continued to fire. "Spade, and you two. For the next ten seconds, hold your fire."

"What?" Kusuri motioned to stand back up.

Spade grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back to the ground, which was easy, given that she was over a foot taller than him. He probably weighed at least 70 pounds less than her. "Just trust them," she reassured.

Krystal pulled a small cylindrical object from her belt as she leapt onto Panther's interlocked hands to be launched airborne. She ascended through the air. Meanwhile, the cylinder she held expanded lengthwise into a staff almost twice her height. The staff began to glow as she twirled it in a dancing motion. In confusion, some of the soldiers ceased firing, while the remainder either continued to assail Star Wolf's position or direct their fire towards Krystal.

Taking advantage of their distraction, Falco and Panther aimed for the enemies with their sights trained on Krystal;Leon dispatched a few of the ones firing directly at them.

"Still no firing?" Fox asked, not even looking at the soldiers.

Spade tapped him on the shoulder in a rhythmic pattern in response.

As Krystal gracefully made her acrobatic descent, Star Wolf ceased firing and dove for the ground, taking cover. Krystal raised her staff, its intense glow blinding the entire square in light. In one final flip, she slammed it into the ground, causing a massive shock wave.

Dozens of soldiers flew several feet, some going head-first into the nearest wall. Others simply fell over and were overwhelmed by the blinding light. Krystal then made short work of the enemy within reach of her staff.

"Now!" Leon shouted.

All but Fox began shooting at the soldiers left standing; the rest of Oikonny's men were quickly dispatched, and yet there was no time for them time to idle.

"This way!" she waved them over, heading further into the alleyway.

Everyone rushed ahead while Leon and Fox simultaneously looked back. They glimpsed dozens of soldiers writhing on the ground. Leon was about to continue ahead when he noticed that Fox hadn't moved.

"What are they doing?" Fox cocked his good ear towards the men.

 _ **Is he...**_ "Are you blind, Fox?"

Fox both nodded and shook his head. Leon looked back at the men on the ground. _**Well, now would be a good moment to ask him, while everyone else is still ahead,**_ he decided as he dropped a timed explosive next to the soldiers; And without waiting for it to go off, they followed after the rest of the group.

"What's happened to you?" Leon asked. "You seem a bit... different." _**And by "a bit" I mean you're all scarred up, you have a hearing aid, and you're dressed like a hoodlum.**_ "You go by Midori now, right?"

Fox didn't turn to face him when he answered. "Well, we're not entirely sure. They diagnosed it as 'dissociative amnesia', due to the fact I suddenly woke up one day after escaping captivity on Sensoo. I still don't remember much of what actually took place, and everything before that is just... blank. The only two people I can even remember vividly are John Ishi, and another guy I shared captivity with."

"You're being awfully blunt," Leon said. "If you're telling the truth, then you have no idea who I am, and I know from earlier you just don't trust anyone. If you're telling the truth, why are you trusting _me_ of all people?"

"Seems the same to you and that other guy," Fox pointed out, referring toLeon and Panther's talk about murdering Peppy. "I could also hear your entire conversation with that woman. Krystal, right? I think that other guy called her that... when I was still in the vicinity. Anyways, I heard your entire conversation about me, which resulted in her coming after me, right? You and the others led her to apologize. Her boyfriend pointed out that I acted as if I 'didn't want to see you', which is pretty true. That is why I am deciding to assume you did in fact know me at some point before, and that perhaps I should trust you a little."

Leon had even more doubts now. "How could you hear our entire conversation?"

"Increased sensitivity to sound," Fox tapped his ear." Since about a quarter of my time on Sensoo was spent without any eyes to use, I was forced to learn echolocation in order to adapt. You know, that thing bats have? Yeah, that somehow increased my hearing.."

Leon didn't believe Fox until he took off his sunglasses and turn his face towards him. "Was I always like this?"

He put them back on as they continued running. Leon noticed a strap-like device on Fox's right arm; it looped around his arm and held his upper and lower arms together. This definitely made it look like something was wrong with him.

"No," Leon told him. "As far as I can recall, you never even wore sunglasses. Well, not during our encounters anyways. Well, what I was wanting to say is that I guess I'm not the only one one who thought to turn around earlier and make sure no one was still following us."

Fox laughed. "That's just me being paranoid. Ask Kusuri, he claims I have OCD or something. Now if only I could actually _see_ the people shooting at us, it would be a good thing."

 _ **If what he's saying is true,**_ Leon thought as they ran around a corner _ **. Then that further supports why Wolf refused to talk about what happened during his captivity.**_

Whatever has happened to the two while they were held captive was bad enough that

Fox's memory became suppressed, and Wolf was almost entirely silent after they rescued him.

"You should go see Wolf after this is settled," Leon decided, making his own plans to ask Wolf himself as well. "After he escaped from the same place you were held captive in, he nearly spent _a_ year looking for you before the general forced him to quit. He'd probably like to know you're alright."

"Wolf?" Fox asked. "O'Donnell right? Yeah that'd be nice. Pretty much _the one thing_ I remember is when we were both there together."

Leon decided not to bother mentioning to Fox that he shouldn't breathe a word of this little chat to Krystal; that he'd remembered his former rival over his girlfriend. Just then, Fox's head whipped around sharply.

"Ah shit! I can hear more of them behind us. Where's the dead end Spade spoke of?"

"We're going down it. Apparently-"

Rounding a final corner, the pair regrouped with the rest of the party. They found the crew facing an impassible brick wall. Krystal snapped her head round to them, a slightly worried expression on her face, "There you two are! There's more coming right behind you!" she shouted, before turning her head back to Falco. "Are you sure-"

"Move aside sister!" Falco yelled at the blue vixen, in an annoyed manner.

. Spade and Panther shook their heads at Falco. In his hands was a red rocket launcher. Krystal stood in between him and the wall, glaring in disbelief.

He saddled the rocket launcher in the crook of his neck and aimed it at the wall.. Krystal rolled her eyes, whilst moving to safety and taking cover from the impending blast."Let's do this! Falco shouted, pulling back on the trigger and sending a salvo of missiles. The deafening blast and dense smoke left no doubt in their minds the wall had been breached. Aside from the black, burnt rings from the missile impacts,they left not even a trace of structural damage.

"Don't bother," Spade told him. "These bomb shelters were used during the Lylat Wars, and even more recently during the Apparoid invasion. If a giant alien can't penetrate that wall, then a pea shooter like yours is useless."

"YOU COULDN'T TELL ME THAT FIVE SECONDS AGO!?" Falco yelled.

"She did," the entire group, minus Leon, said in unison.

"How would you know?" Falco glared at Fox.

"He's not deaf like you." Leon said. "Now, how about you point that launcher toward these idiots pursuing us?"

"They're here!," Fox spun around as he pulled a knife out of his boot.

Everyone took position: Spade kneeling on her knees, Panther and Krystal standing upright behind her. Spade grabbed Fox and pulled him into the circle they made, Fox was now shoulder to shoulder with Kusuri... which left Leon and Falco close enough to be touching.

Falco pressed on his wrist watch. "I'm calling in my arwing."

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" Leon asked. "And why in the world would the Cornerians allow _you_ to have an arwing, but not any of us? This is bullshit."

"Just give it two minutes," Falco snapped, "When that arwing comes, you won't be saying that."

"Make out later," Spade said.

Krystal tapped on the bird's shoulder with the gun she just swapped out for her staff. "In five, Falco. Four... three... two..."

Falco grunted at Leon and heaved his launcher back over his shoulder and launched the missile, causing an explosion just around the corner. They heard aggravated shouting. Fox jumped as a result. "You got about ten of them," Krystal said. "Out of at least fifty."

"They've set up a shield around that corner. Don't bother trying again," Krystal said the same moment Fox said, "They have some sort of barrier now... Why do I get the feeling I am being stared at?"

Krystal eyed him, but said nothing as Panther began to fire and Spade stood by as Krystal and Panther worked at taking out a dozen of men peeking around the corner. Once they needed to reload, Leon was about to join in with Spade, but it seemed Kusuri took his role, firing at the same moment as her.

"I've been replaced," Leon muttered. "By a pubescent child."

"Teens are the devil," Fox said. "To them, anyone is easily replaceable."

"Oh shut up you bitch," Spade said.

" _ **Star Wolf,"**_ a voice said over their team communication network.

"Hey Bill," Falco said. "Now's not the best-"

Leon cut in. "What do you want?"

He turned to Falco and whispered, "How are you even on this net?"

" _ **An arwing was just stolen from our military hanger, and it's pilot is headed in your direction. What are you trying to pull here, stealing military aircraft?"**_

Bill Grey, the leader of the Bulldog and Husky Squadrons, was normally stationed in on Katina. It was not often that the squadrons leave their home planet; This must have been a serious situation.

Falco looked at Leon. "Why is my arwing in your hanger? We're kinda in a situation, and I am wondering why exactly you guys have my arwing."

"Why are you even on this planet?" Leon asked.

Spade kicked Leon's leg as she continued shooting. "Can you three please chat later? Krystal, Panther, you're up!"

Spade and Leon's replacement reloaded as they ducked behind the former couple, who resumed their shooting.

"Are they on a chat or something?" Fox asked, to which Spade muttered, "Yes."

" _ **General's business,"**_ Bill told them. Falco, being one of Fox's former best friends, allowed him to get along quite well with Bill; but after Falco began doing cooperative missions with Star Wolf, Bill slowly and eventually lost all of his trust in him; and like the General, he of course, still completely trusted Krystal. " _ **And no, Falco, that's not your arwing. There are two headed in your direction. The one I'm talking about isn't automated, and clearly has a pilot in it. MOTHER OF GOD, THERE IS A THIRD ONE. WAIT STAR WOLF, ONE'S DROPPING-"**_

An arwing flew overhead and dropped bombs at the wave of Oikkoney's men before soaring back into the sky. It wasn't a thin _Frigate,_ like the typical Cornerian standard issue military arwing. Its round shaped resembled a cat's face.

The explosion tore at Leon's eardrums, and he nearly fell onto his knees.

Fox covered an ear with his one functional arm, as he fell to the ground. Leon's ears rung, and he couldn't hear the profanic things Fox was probably saying. Leon could tell without hearing that Falco said, "That's fucking Katt!"

He heard someone speak on the net, but couldn't hear well enough to tell who it was. Leon assisted Fox by lifting him from the forearm, and mouthed to Spade, "Let's go."

"What?" she mouthed back as the vixen shot up from the ground, staff raised.

 _ **Shit,**_ Leon looked back at the building corner, which was still intact. Somehow more men had appeared even after the bomb had landed. It was too late for Krystal to block the incoming attacks with her staff: they had already fired several rounds in their direction; but Krystal still moved as if she intended to repel the incoming attack with her weapon. Leon raised his gun to fire but something grabbed him and threw him backwards into the ground.

Colors danced in his vision as pain shot through the back of his head. It seemed the planet spun faster than it normally did, and he couldn't tell up from down. Someone grabbed and lifted him by the arm. Leon blinked a few times, and could make out krystal, outlined in a white aura. She held the staff fixed in front of her as she spoke. Leon couldn't hear her, but he could read her lips.

"I don't have enough energy to hold them out much longer!"

Leon looked to his left...

 _ **Falco**_ held him up. Thankfully, Leon was too disoriented to care.

Everything seemed fine, no sign of whoever just threw Leon to the ground .

"Can you hear me?" he heard Falco yelling in his ear.

He had to shout to hear his own voice, "Yeah. Who attacked me?"

Falco pointed to the young vulpine Spade held over her right shoulder, blood flowing out from his shoulder. Leon just then realized it was Kusuri who threw him back.

Panther and Krystal shot rounds through her white force field. As Panther ran out of ammo, he purposefully dropped his gun and reached into Spade's for hers before he continued.

"Bill," Leon said. "Can you hear me? Great, the explosion wrecked the mics."

"My arwing'll be here soon," Falco told him.

It wasn't coming soon enough, for the force field protecting them from the dozens of soldiers fire was seconds from dying down. Leon dropped to the ground for his gun as Falco began firing. During his descent, Leon noticed that Spade was carrying not one, but _two_ vulpines.

 _ **Not that Fox was of much use in this situation anyways.**_

Leon joined in Star Wolf's last stand as another dozen of men still stood in front of them, only a few feet away, compared to several yards moments ago.

"Need some help?" A annoying, crackly voice said over the network.

Falco looked up. "Is that-"

This time is was the _Frigate_ that soared overhead, launching several lazer strikes upon the men in front of them. These sounds weren't deafening this time, and each strike conveniently struck a few of the soldiers, and none came close to hitting Star Wolf, until the alleyway was nearly empty once again.

Krystal dropped to the ground, Panther falling with her.

Holding a kid and a man already, Spade was barely able to stop Panther's swift descent by extending out her knee. Thankfully, Krystal's descent wasn't violent enough to cause serious damage, and probably injured her shoulder more than her skull or brain; since she landed on a dead soldier that had nearly gotten past the shield before being shot down.

 _ **She used up all her energy,**_ Leon thought. _**Was she using Panther's energy, too? Didn't know she could do that.**_

" _ **Come in Star Wolf,**_ " They could still hear Bill.

"Oh come on!" Falco yelled. "First those two fall unconscious, now you?" He turned his face away from them,, and moved as if to punch the nearest wall, stopping inches away before realizing that it wasn't a good idea.

His temper tantrum didn't amuse Spade. "Um, can I have a little help here? It's bad enough I'm carrying these two, now you're going to make me carry a six-foot tall man?"

"Here," Leon said, knowing how Falco works.

Falco pushed past him. "No no no no no, you probably have some sort of brain injury. You probably shouldn't-"

"I AM PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF CARRYING HIM! HE IS _MY_ MEMBER AFTER ALL," Leon shouted, hoping there weren't still soldiers around to hear them.

Falco looked at Panther's body as if considering letting him before yelling back, "YOU CAN CARRY KRYSTAL THEN."

"I WILL!"

Leon put one arm under her legs and lifted her without a problem, while Falco struggled to carry the man with several inches on him.

"You two remind me of these two gay kids I knew back when I lived here." Spade muttered. "They were the cutest couple-"

"NO," Falco looked at her as he attempted to lift the feline that had at least a foot or two over him.

"Except not as badass," Spade added.

Leon didn't bother looking at her, too busy forming a plan. "Good. Now, there's still a good chance of there being more of these soldiers out there. It doesn't help that we have no- Actually Falco has an arwing. And unfortunately, we have to use his shitty arwing, unless we want to die."

Spade attempted to face-palm herself; but couldn't because her hands were full. So she hit her head against the closest wall to her. "Priorities, Leon!"

"Shut up, child," Leon snapped. "And do not smash your face into those walls. We already have four of us unconscious. Falco, when is your arwing coming?" It sounded more like a demand than a question.

Falco sighed.

Spade's face turned cold. "No."

Falco flashed the monitor on his wrist. "It just.. deactivated. I have no idea why. According to this, it's in the freaking ocean."

Leon felt that under better circumstances, that he would probably attempt to kill Falco at this point however, he was more concentrated on the situation at hand... for once.

"We're screwed." Leon muttered. "Between the three of us, and four unconscious, there is no way to take on however many more soldiers may be on this island."

"We can try," Spade said. "Just a suggestion. You know, better than I don't know, dying a horrible and painful death to ugly apes? And take that back down to three, Kusuri made me promise him on the trip here, that if a situation like this was to occur, that I would focus less on saving _his_ life, and focus more on getting the documents delivered. And trust me, I've spoken to Fox about several personal things in his life for the past two weeks or so. Trust me when I say that maybe we should just leave him."

"Fuck no," Falco shook his head, "This is not how we are rolling right now. It's bad enough he was able to somehow jump in front of Leon to block a shot. But now... you're saying we leave him?!"

"For once… I agree," Leon said.

"We're all going to die then..." Spade said. "But okay. How are you suggesting we go about carrying four people, one of which being a kid who's been shot, and likely to die in the next twenty or so minutes regardless of whether we ourselves survive or not?"

Leon walked over to him, throwing Krystal back over his shoulder. "Hand me Fox, you can focus more on shooting with only his small body."

Spade sighed as she lifted Fox by the forearm and handed him to Leon, as if it were dead weight. She then hooked Kusuri's arm up and over her back. She secured his arm with her opposite hand. Carrying him like this at least allowed her to shoot.

"The fate of six lie on a sixteen year old girl. What can possibly go wrong?"

Falco shook his head as they began to advance forward. "Why did you even come then? Did you think this work would be safe for a kid like you?"

"It's sarcasm, I learned it from you watching you two bicker."

Spade half sprinted to the corner, moving lighter now that she only had to carry the young vulpine, and took a peek around it. She retrieved her gun from her belt, motioning for them to be quiet. She disappeared around the corner before Leon and Falco could catch up. The two trudged along, waiting to hear the gunfire start.

By the time they've reached the corner, several minutes have passed. There still wasn't any signs of gunfire.

"What's taking her so long?" Falco asked.

"Hopefully she isn't encountering anyone," Leon said. "Or maybe she's already gotten captured."

Falco heaved Panther further over his shoulder, before he could slip off. His head shot upwards, his speech was frantic and hurried. "Shit, I can't point. Look! It's an arwing."

Leon looked to the sky to see A sole Cornerian _StarFighter_ arwing model flyover the approximate area in which Spade ran off to.

Once the arwing was out of range, they heard several laser blasts.

" _ **Hands up, missy."**_ they heard over the network.

 _ **Spade Caroso**_

Other than the bodies of Andrew's men, there was no one to be seen. The only possible explanations could be that the citizens either fled underground, or evacuated the island altogether in the past twenty minutes or so. This would mean the entire planet of Zoness was under attack as well.

 _ **How can they concentrate their attacks on both planets?**_ Spade thought as she tapped on her scanner. It seemed to have broken since the cat girl launched the bomb. _**The only explanation for this would be that they have a hidden stronghold somewhere in this galaxy, big enough to hold an army this big; or they have the majority waiting on Sensoo. I'll need to go back to that planet and take a look. Hopefully after bringing Peppy his Fox, I'll gain a few brownie points with him, and he'll grant me passage again.**_

She heard a blast as the concrete in front of her exploded in a green blast. It was so close to her, it caused her to fall backward; luckily, Kusuri's body cushioned her fall.

" _ **Hands up, Missy."**_ a deep voice told her, then, as if to make a demonstration of what would happen if she didn't, he launched even more around her until it formed a circle of craters around flew everywhere each time the pilot launched a strike, some hitting Spade hard enough to leave a bruise.

Spade dropped her gun, and slowly stood back up to face this man. She recognized the model, the _StarFighter_ , an arwing designed to be able to fire duo lasers. She didn't have to look in the cockpit to know the pilot was Bill Grey.

" _ **I said hands up**_ ," he continued to talk in that deep voice as he launched even more lasers around her. Spade sighed as she moved to drop Kusuri, only to see Bill wave his hands in an x pattern, as if to say, " _Not what I meant!"_

She pointed with her free hand to the mic on her headset. Only to have Bill blast next to her again. "Don't you try that!"

It wasn't until he landed next to her that she realized what he was doing, when he hopped out and helped her carry Kusuri into the jet.

"You are a jerk," Spade told him as he lifted the boy. "You really hate us don't you?"

"I hate _them,_ " he corrects, using his normal voice. He gestured toward the alleyway which she just exited. "I wanted them to think I was arresting you."

"I know, you jerk," she moved to climb in, but he raised a hand to stop her, which held a headset.

"There's only one seat in here," Bill said. "The boy's going on the floor. You're riding the wing. Try to sound like you're not enjoying yourself?"

The hatch closed and the _StarFighter_ took off. Spade decided to comply with him and put on the headset he gave her.

"What happened to the boy?" Bill asked in that deep voice again.

"Shot in the shoulder," she answered bluntly. "About three minutes ago. He'll probably be dead in minutes."

" _ **We'll have to see about that."**_

 _ **Highly doubt you can help with that. He doesn't have a pulse.**_ "Where are you taking us? I'm assuming everyone on this island evacuated underground in the past ten or so minutes?"

" _ **Obviously."**_

Even in these circumstances, Spade had to resist laughing at the voice he was attempting; but she felt like that if Bill was going to do this charade, she might as well play along. "Are the rest of Star Wolf under arrest? Where do you plan on taking us?"

She already knew from the direction Bill is flying what island they were headed toward. During her training in the academy, she had to fly all over Zoness; and she could now confidently say that she knew the inner workings of the police force here. She could become a criminal if she wanted to. She only asked questions since Falco and Leon probably had no idea what was going on.

" _ **Sir," another voice came on the channel. "We have taken Star Wolf into custody, plus someone you will be very interested to meet."**_

"Is the vulpine awake?" Spade asked.

" _ **Don't speak unless spoken to!"**_ Bill said, " _ **I am curious, is this vulpine man awake?"**_

" _ **I'm awake yes,"**_ Fox growled. " _ **For whatever reason, they gave only me a headset, and didn't give any to the two from Star Wolf. Am I special-ed or something?"**_

Bill's mouth fell open. " _ **Fox, is that you?"**_

" _ **Who is this," Fox asked. "Someone else I know?"**_

Bill looked at Spade; she could picture him raising an eyebrow at her under his helmet.

" _ **If you want, I can explain my absence when we land."**_

Spade grinned. _**And by that he means explain nothing at all!**_


End file.
